Tuesday, 24 May, 2005
My new camera
Last month about a week before the big bicycle trip, I finally went out and bought a new replacement for
the Creative PC-CAM that I broke. I was unable to find a new PC-CAM
and after much shopping I settled on the Nikon
Coolpix 4600. The camera itself is only about $200, but with a 256 MB memory card, heavy duty neck strap, carry case, and what all, the final bill was right at $300. It's quite a bit more than I wanted to spend, but it's a much better camera than the PC-CAM. It's also a nicer camera than the Canon that I paid nearly $600 four years ago. Almost all of the pictures I've posted on this site since mid April were taken with the new Nikon.
The camera has dozens of different modes in addition to the standard "snapshot" mode, including settings for night landscape, portraits, "action," bright sunlight, museums, close ups, and others. The camera will auto focus, and in some cases even center the picture automatically. I like the flexibility but it's difficult to know which mode to use in a particular situation, and the small screen and paucity of buttons make navigating the user interface a bit cumbersome. Still, I can take much better shots than with either of the other two cameras.
The Coca Cola can pictured here is something that I hadn't seen before going to Japan. It's a 500 ml aluminum can, shaped like a 16 oz glass bottle. The programmers and artists who saw me taking the picture were a bit amused that I thought it photo-worthy. Odd looks never stopped me from experimenting with my camera, though. This is a very good example of the camera's closeup mode.